Door holder



March 31, 1931. w LUETERS 1,798,264

DOOR HOLDER Filed April 2, 1928 INVENTOR {ff Lmiins' Aa'ToRNEY PatentedMar. 31, 1931 PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM G. LUETERS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO noonHOLDER Application filed 'April' 2,

My invention relates to devices for holding doors in one or morepositions.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, easilyinstallable and easily operable device which holds a door positively inone or more positions, which is easily released to permit the door to bemoved from its position, and in which a certain momentum is created whenreleased to start 30 movement of the door or of one of members of thedevice at least sufficiently far to automatically keep the lockmechanism of the device out of locking engagement so that an operatorneed not retain a hold on the releasing means when he moves to take'holdof the door to move the same.

In door holders, of the prior art'particularly in those which areattached close to the hinged edge of a door, it is quite inconvenient torelease the door with one hand and reach for the free edge of the doorwith the other hand to move the same. My invention provides a means forreleasing the lock and to automatically keep it released for the timebeing so that an operator can leave the lock or 'release means and walkto the free edge of the door to take hold of the same to move it withoutpaying any further attention to the lock means.

In order to illustrate my inventon, but not to limit the same, I haveselected a certain door holder structure and have shown the same. in theaccompanying drawing in which I a Fig. 1 is a perspective view of aportion of a door framing with a door hinged thereon and a door holderstructure of my invention attached thereto. 7

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the door 40 holder device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of Fig. 2 showing interior relations ofparts.

Fig. 4 is a side view of a modified support member for the device shownin Fig. 2.

'Fig. 5 is a perspective view of akey operated device to release thelock mechanism of Fig. 2.

Similar reference charactersrefer to similar parts throughout the views.

- The device shown in the accompanying 1928. Serial No. 266,702.

drawing comprises, principally, the fixable member A, the rotatorymember B, the slidable member C, the latch member D, and the latchrelease member E.

The member A, in the present instance a commercial bolt, hasthe bodyportion 10 extendable through the door framing member 11, the head 12 toabut one side of the member 11, the nut 13 to abut another side of thefmember 11, and the externally threaded end 14 below the nut 18. One endof the holder device is supportable on the door framing by means of themember A.

The member B, in the present instance a pieceof commercial round barstock, has the internally threaded longitudinally eXtending opening 15in one end thereof adapted to the end 1 1, the cavity 16 extendinglongitudinally inwardly of the opening 15, the guide hole 17 extendinglongitudinally from the cavity 16 through the other end of the member B,and the opening 18 extending transversely of the member B and in aposition in termediate the ends of the cavity 16.

The member O, in the present instance a pieceof commercial round barstock, is of a 'diametrical size freely slidable through the opening 18and of sufficient length to permit the door 19 to be opened to anydesired degree without permitting the end of the member C to leave theopening 18, has, in

- the present instance, the slot 20 to hold the door in a closedposition, and the slot 21 to hold the door in one open position.

The bracket 22, U shaped in the present instance, has the holes 23 forscrews to fasten the same to the door 19, and the holes 25 through thelegs thereof for the pivot pin 26, a commercial cotter pin in thepresent instance, which also eXtends through the end 27 of the member Cwhich extends into the bracket 22 between the legs thereof.

A power means to initially move the door is shown as comprising thespring 28, in the present instance a piece of commercial spring stock,telescopes over the end 27 with one longitudinal end thereof adapted forabutment on the pin 26 and the other longitudinal end thereof adaptedfor adbutment on themember B when the door is closed? The spring 29, inthe present instance a duplicate of the spring 28, telescopes over theend 30 of the member C with one longitudinal end thereof adapted forabutment on the pin 31, a duplicate of the pin 26 in the presentinstance, and the other longitudinal end thereof adapted for abutment onthe member B when the door is open. Both of the springs are unconfinedpositionally except when the door is closed or is open and are ofsuflicient length so that they are compressed to a certain extentbetween the corresponding pins and the member B when the door is closedor opened.

The latch member D has the head 32 extending into and movablelongitudinally in the cavity 16, the stem 33 extending through andslidable in the guide hole 17, the nut 34 threaded onto the stem, andthe ring 35 suspended in the end of the stem. The spring 36 telescopesover the stem 33 with one longitudinalend thereof abutting the end Wall37 of the cavity 16 and the other longitudinal end thereof abutting thehead 32.

The element E '(Fig. 5) comprises the guide member 38 fastenable to thedoor 19 by means of screws or bolts through the holes 39 therein and themember 40 slidable in the guide member 38 and having the ear 41 slottedto extend the end thereof over the stem 33 above the nut 34 thereon. Thekey hole 42 is provided in the member 38 and a suitable hole 43 isprovided in the member 40 so that a key can move the member 40downwardly as is common in lock structure and thereby abut the nut 34and move the lock member downwardly and thereby release the head 32 fromthe slot.

This lock and key arrangement, associated with the latch mechanism,prevents unauthorized opening of the door, and at the same time holdsthe door in either open or closed position by a one key operation.

Vhile the door is being moved, the member C slides through the member Band, due to the hinged condition of the door and the consequent arcuatemovement thereof, the positionally fixed member B rotates on the memberA and does so due to the space between the lower end of the nut 13 andthe upper end of the member B and the threaded engagement between thesemembers which permits the member B to rotate on the member A withoutcreating any binding between the members B and C nor detrimentallyaffecting the holding of the member B to the member A.

When the bolt A shown in Figs. 2 and 3 cannot be used, the same can besubstituted by the member shown in Fig. 4 in which the body portion 10is provided with a wood screw thread so that the member. A can bescrewed into wood or other material or can be cemented into concrete orother material.

Then the member A is fixed to the door framing and the bracket 22 isfixed to the door, the member G extends transversely through and isguided in and slides through the member B when the door is moved. Vhilethe door is being closed, and a little before it is wholly closed, thespring 28 abuts the pin 26 and the member B and is compressed to acertain extent as the'door is fully closed and thereby stores power inthe spring. When the door is fully closed, the slot 20 is in alignmentwith the head 32 and the spring 36 moves the latch member D so that thehead 32 enters the slot 20 and thereby prevents the door from beingmoved out of position. When the latch member D is moved downwardly,against the spring 36, by means of the ring 35 or the element E, thehead 32 leaves the slot 20 and the power then stored in compressedspring 28 tends to relieve the tension thereof and thereby initiallymoves the door and moves the member C longitudinally sufficiently far todis-align the head 32 and the slot 20 so that the head 32 abuts theunslotted portion of the member C and thereby permits the member C toslide or move through the member B freely and without interference andpermits the door to be moved further without manipulating or holding theelement E. The opening of the door is thus started by means of thespring 28 compressed by a previous movement of the door.

When the door is fully opened, the spring 29 is compressed in the samemanner that the spring 28 was compressed and the head 32 engages theslot 21 in the same manner as above described; Upon release of the latchelement as described above, the spring 29 starts the closing of the doorand dis-aligns the head 32 and-the slot 21 so that the door can 73 bemoved further without paying any at tention to the lock element andautomatically aligns the head 32 and the slot 20 and compresses thespring 28 when the door is fully closed so that the same is held in theclosed position until the latch-element is again released.

The opposite sides of the slots 20 and 21 are square and the head 32 isstraight and there are no taper or angular faces so that a pres- 1 sureon the door or a pressure from the springs will not force the head 32out of the slots unless the head 32 is first released and therebypositively retains the bar and the door against movement while the head32 is in one of the slots.

The mechanism shown and described automatically holds the doorpositively in either an open or aclosed position and permits the door tobe moved from either one of these positions by merely giving the lockelement one pull.

The springs do DOts act onthe doorwhile the same is being moved but theydo cushion the movement of the door when the same nears either theclosing or open position thereof and by this cushioning are conpressedand thereby store up power which is used to start a movement of the doorin the next movement thereof.

Changes can be made in the structure as Well as in the arrangement ofthe elements shown and described within the scope of the appendedclaims; therefore, without limiting myself to the precise structure andarrangement of elements as shown and described,

I claim 1. In combination, a door frame, a door hinged to said frame,and a latch mechanism including a bracket on said frame, a bar hinged tosaid door and extending through said bracket and having transverse slotstherein, each of said slots having opposite square shoulders, a latchmember extendible into said slots to engage said square shoulders, and apower means adapted to initially move said bar when said latch member ismoved out of said slots.

2. In combination, a door frame, a door hinged to said frame, and alatch mechanism including a bracket on said frame, a bar hinged to saiddoor and extending through said bracket and having transverse slotstherein, each of said slots having opposite square shoulders, a latchmember extendible into said slots to engage said square shoulders, andsprings adapted to be compressed by movement of said door to providepower to initially move said door when said latch member is releasedfrom said slots.

3. In combination, a door and a framing therefor and a door holderhaving a member positionally fixed to said framing and having arotatable part, a member hinged to said door and slidable through saidrotatable part and guided thereby and having a transverse slot therein,a movable pin in said rotatable part and adapted to contact saidslidable member and to positionally engage the walls of said slottherein, a spring to move said pin against said slidable member and intosaid slot when said slot is opposite said pin, manually operable meansto move said pin out of said slot, and a spring between said rotatablepart and an abutment on said slidable member to start the movement ofsaid slidable member through said rotatable part when said pin is movedout of said slot against the action of said spring which moves said pin.

In testimony of the foregoing, I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM G. LUETERS.

